Table 2.
Characteristics of Newspaper Articles about Hormone Therapy Published between 1998 and 2003
| May to July 1998 | August 1998 Month of HERS Publication | September to October 1998 | May to October 2000 | May to June 2002 | July 2002 Month of EPT-WHI Publication | August to October 2002 | May to October 2003 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Average number per month* | 19.3 | 25.0 | 14.0 | 10.5 | 11.0 | 197.0 | 41.7 | 24.2 |
| Percentage on the front page* | 21.4 | 24.0 | 10.7 | 12.9 | 19.0 | 40.2 | 27.5 | 23.4 |
| Percentage in a Sunday edition* | 15.5 | 4.0 | 25.0 | 27.0 | 27.3 | 11.2 | 20.8 | 16.4 |
| Type of article* | ||||||||
| News article (%) | 72.4 | 84.0 | 85.7 | 90.5 | 86.4 | 67.5 | 81.6 | 81.4 |
| Editorial (%) | 1.7 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.6 | 9.1 | 13.2 | 4.0 | 2.1 |
| Letter to the editor (%) | 6.9 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 4.8 | 4.5 | 17.8 | 7.2 | 13.8 |
| Other (%)† | 19.0 | 16.0 | 14.3 | 3.2 | 0.0 | 1.5 | 7.2 | 2.8 |
| Authorship* | ||||||||
| No first author/byline (%) | 7.4 | 13.0 | 0.0 | 14.8 | 6.7 | 8.0 | 4.8 | 5.6 |
| No affiliation (%) | 13.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 7.4 | 20.0 | 23.0 | 10.5 | 14.5 |
| Staff writer (%) | 35.2 | 26.1 | 56.0 | 14.8 | 26.7 | 45.4 | 41.0 | 46.0 |
| Wire service (%) | 20.4 | 43.5 | 16.0 | 33.3 | 20.0 | 12.6 | 29.5 | 25.0 |
| Other affiliation (%) | 24.1 | 17.4 | 28.0 | 29.6 | 26.7 | 10.9 | 14.3 | 8.9 |
*
P<.05 across time periods
†
Includes advice columns and news summaries